Labor deal all but done

DETROIT – Baseball players and owners set aside their long history of bitter negotiations to reach a tentative agreement on a five-year contract, the first time the sides have achieved labor peace before their current deal expires.

The agreement was struck during bargaining in New York on Friday night and Saturday, and is subject to the sides putting the deal in writing, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Sunday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been finalized.

Also, the Los Angeles Times reported that Rob Manfred, MLB executive vice president for labor negotiations, said “Those reports are premature. We’re still working on the deal.”

The current deal, set to expire Dec. 19, was agreed to on Aug. 30, 2002, just hours before players were set to strike. That contract was the first since 1970 achieved without a work stoppage, and this marks the first time the sides reached agreement before the expiration of the previous contract.

“Baseball is at an all-time high point right now,” Detroit left fielder Craig Monroe said before Game 2 of the World Series. “You’ve got low-market teams doing well and different teams winning every year. Getting this done couldn’t have come at a better time.”

Lawyers were working on drafting language for the new deal Sunday, and hoped to put the finishing touches on it today or Tuesday.

While baseball had eight work stoppages from 1972-95, the new deal guarantees labor peace through the 2011 season.

Most of the key provisions of the current contract will be continued with minor modifications, such as revenue sharing and the luxury tax.

With the luxury tax set to expire on Dec. 19, there was pressure on management to make a deal to ensure that the 2007 season would be played with the tax in place.

Following the last work stoppage, the sides reached a landmark labor agreement in 1997 that increased revenue sharing, and their 2002 deal boosted the amount of money large-market teams give to their competitors.

Record economic success helped produce an agreement with no public rancor.

Commissioner Bud Selig said last week that he estimated the sport will produce $5.2 billion in revenue this year, up from about $3.6 billion in 2001.

Selig credited the changes in the 2002 agreement with making more teams competitive.

“I had dreams of things getting better but, no, in many ways this has exceeded my fondest expectations,” he said last Tuesday night in St. Louis. “This sport has more parity than ever. We have more parity than any other sport.”

The average player salary was $1.1 million in 1995, the first season after the 1994-95 strike. It rose to just under $2.3 million in 2002 and will be about $2.7 million this year.

The average likely will top $3 million next year or in 2008.